[AQ] Pen Your Thoughts [Asuka/Yasuko.K]

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

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Pen Pals!
+ Description: The student council has set up an exchange of anonymous letters with another student on your thoughts about dreams and passion, intended to get students to cheer each other on and help each other out! Write one yourself, or recruit some friends to write along with you.
+ Write about dreams and passion: +1 Guardians, +1 Faberge, -1 Roost
+ Write about finding your own path: +2 Roost, -1 Guardians
+ Write that it’s pointless to dream: -1 Guardians, -1 Roost, -2 Faberge
+ Requirements: None
+ Submitted by Hatta

---

With a raised eyebrow, the first-year stared up at the noticeboard, her bag lunged over her shoulder as she read through the poster. The colourful advertisement had caught her eye while she was walking out of class, on her way home. It had been a good while since the Pen-Pal programme was started - and in some ways the girl was surprised that it had lasted this long. Or rather, she was surprised it was still going. After all, don't these things usually die off after a while?

“Yasuko let’s do it!” Calli chimed, her eyes sparkling with absolute excitement. Yasuko had written to two other pen-pals before - one of them whom she had coincidentally found her out through her display name on twitter, and the other had seemed to decide not to reply to her second letter in the end. Or maybe the student had gotten busy. Either way, the first-year wasn’t sure if she wanted to try it again; the new semester had just started and technically she only had one “success” so far (if you would consider it so). Maybe she should do it another time...

“Yasuko, let’s do itttttttttt.” Calli began to whine, pulling on the girl’s loose lock of hair.

Assuming her Guardian Character wasn’t going to talk her ear off about it that is.

Swatting the brunette fairy off of her hair, she shot her a dirty look before looking back onto the board. Even if she decided to do it, would the student respond? The new semester was just starting after all, and she didn't really want to let her grades slip just because of a pen pal letter...and what if it landed on someone who wasn’t entirely enthusiastic about the whole thing?

That would kind of suck.

“Come on Yasuko! You might meet someone cool on the other end! And even if it didn’t go so well, it’s no loss! Since it’s all anonymous anyway!” The sprite said, grinning at the end.

The first-year gave a defeated sigh. “Alright I’ll do it,” she replied, holding her hands up in the air as if to show that she was giving in. It was really to shut the fairy up, she convinced herself of that. After all, it wasn’t like she was doing it because she was particularly excited about it. Just wanted to give it some kind of chance to see it if would give her another “success” again. Yeah, that was it.

Walking off to the library, she pulled out her notepad and a pencil, beginning to write a draft.

Hello, to whomever this letter will end up to,

She ended up using the same opening as the previous one, but hey, there was only so many ways to open a letter wasn’t there? ...In the end she made herself a mental reminder to check for other...ahem original ways of starting one.

Hello, to whomever this letter will end up to,


It’s probably a little late to start writing to a pen-pal, but hey, considering the new semester is just beginning, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do something that wasn't academics huh? Writing a letter to someone you don’t really know that is.

She was rambling. Oh well.

Sorry, I suppose I was rambling. Let’s get on to business. We’re supposed to write about dreams and passions right? What are yours, by any chance?

Sincerely,

She stopped, contemplating if she should use the same name like before. But she did kind of revealed that publicly on twitter though - which was not the best decision on her part but eh. Glancing over to her Guardian Character (who was behaving her absolute best today, which was a genuine surprise), she remembered something. That boy from the other day in the library had called her fairy “a little muse”. Calli seemed to like that a lot.

Hmm.

Sincerely,
Muse

Satisfied, the girl rewrote the whole letter in black ink on a fresh blank piece of paper, sealing it into a white envelope. Detouring to the student council, she dropped it off into a silver box, before hefting her bag over her shoulder to head on back to the dorms.

Whomever it did land up to, hopefully they were pleasant people.


Minami Asuka

[Minami Asuka]

As per the way she was, despite walking up and down the hallways for what would seem like the millionth time, Asuka had only just noticed the colourful poster tacked onto the noticeboard. She wasn't one for writing very much, but the prospect of making a new friend through this means was, to say the least, exciting. The moment she was handed a white envelope by the student council to respond to, she dashed back to her dorm and plopped herself in front of her desk, looking at the envelope with a strange sort of exhilaration.

And so she almost ripped off half the letter while tearing the envelope open.

She pored over the letter which was thankfully not very long. It read very much like a textbook to her, with formal looking language and all. And the person's name was... Muse? What a strange name.

We’re supposed to write about dreams and passions right? What are yours, by any chance?

Were they supposed to? She might've missed that part on the poster... Nevertheless, she would gladly write about them! Looking around for a stray piece of paper and finding none, she did the next best thing: tearing it out of one of her school notebooks.

Of course, she checked if there was anything written on the back of that page first. I'm better at observing now! she thought as she mentally patted herself on the back. Taking a bright orange pencil out of her pencil case, she began scrawling on the paper with much gusto.

Hello muse

It's never too late to make friends, isnt this cool! writing to strangers and then we become less strangers! But now let me tell you about my dreams

Asuka started scribbling even faster now that she was writing about the things she loved most in life. And while Asuka would never pass up a chance to talk about ramen, she loved talking about what her father did even more.

my dream is to become a ramen making pro just like my dad! My dad is really good at making ramen, he said he learnt it from grandpa the best ways to make ramen of the best consitency, and to make the best soup to go with it. He said the best food are the ones with heart put into them when making them so I'm still learning but I'll be better! Maybe if we meet I'll make a bowl for you

What abot your dreams? Let me know soon!

From
ASUKA

Putting down her pencil, she beamed proudly at the letter. It was smudged here and there from friction between graphite dust and her hand, but it wasn't too bad right? Miraculously finding an envelope in one of the desk drawers (along with an empty notepad dammit), she sealed the letter in it and ran off back to the student council.

Just as she was about the hand the letter in, she happened to take another glance at the poster just outside the student council. Now she noticed something else written on it that she had missed before: to use a pseudonym. What did she write again?

From
ASUKA

She gave herself another pat on the back for the second time that day for catching that. Still, she had better fix it before she handed the letter in.

Tearing the envelope open as slowly as she could to avoid damaging it too much, Asuka pulled the letter out and flattened it against the wall. She only had a pen on her though. What pen-name should she use? At this point she was in a bit of a rush, so she scribbled out her name the best she could and put the first thing that came to mind:

From
A̕S҉҉͘U҉̴͏K҉̸̶̕͢Á̧͢͝   RAMEN MASTER

Underlined for extra emphasis. Or maybe to distract them from reading past the horrible mess that was once her real name.

Putting the letter back into the envelope (which couldn't be resealed), she handed it over to the council before skipping back to her dorm to start on school work.

[Yasuko Kobayashi]

Yasuko stared.

And stared.

She didn't imagine it did she. Well, there was certainly a student council member right in front of her right now, his hand outstretched with a letter in his hand That wasn't a surprise at all, considering that she had signed up for the pen-pal programme ages ago. Nor was she surprised that he had came running to her at lunchtime, a little out of breath, handing the reply over. What she hadn't expected was the condition of the letter itself. It was definitely, definitely a mess. The top was torn off as if someone had looked through it after sealing it, and it looked very much roughly handled. What the hell did the other pen-pal do to it?

"Um..." she began, unsure. Maybe this wasn't the reply to her letter after all? "You sure this is the right one?"

"What?" the boy started, before he pulled back his hand to glance at the envelope again. "It's for someone called Muse, right? And you're Muse, correct?"

Yasuko gave a wry smile. It was for her.

---

When the school bell rang for the end of school, the girl quickly packed her things into her bag, slinging them onto her shoulder as she headed out of the classroom. She walked briskly towards the library, pushing the large doors open and dropping into an empty seat as soon as possible. Zipping open her bag, she took out her pencil box and her notepad, placing it onto the table, before she reached in for the envelope. And hesitated for just a second. Honestly, it was a little silly that she was getting worked up over a letter, but previous attempts never had an envelope arrive in such a...state. She grimaced a little, before she sighed and quickly made her hand dive in and pulled the letter out in one swift motion.

Man, look at this.

She stared at it with a frown - and she quickly shook her head. Surely the inside would be better right? She shouldn't be judging the envelope itself. Picking at the torn areas of the envelope, she made sure she knew which parts were the letter itself and which parts were the envelope before she pulled it out quickly. Once that was done, she smoothed the paper out onto the desk - and she immediately regretted it, as she lifted her hands now stained with pencil graphite. Man, did the recipient not know how write letters? She sighed again. She really should start reading the letter instead of judging the way it looks. Perhaps the letter itself was a gem, hidden beneath all of the dirt.

She began to read the first line.

And came to the conclusion that her new pen-pal was awful at writing anonymous letters.

Or that maybe they weren't taking it seriously. Yasuko scowled at the letter, re-reading it once more to see if she could pick out any hints that said recipient was doing it more for the laughs than anything else. What was the term they often used for these types of people? Uhh...trolls or something? She squinted once more at the letter, re-reading it well over 3 times just to ensure it was not a joke. Or maybe it was. Gosh. Yasuko had no clue how to tell.

But she couldn't just...not reply to the letter at all, could she? After all, it was kind of rude not to respond, especially if she was basing off of an assumption.

Maybe she could just respond once and see how it would go. If they started insulting her well...then that meant she could stop replying.

Hello Ramen Master,

Ramen Master of all things.... she thought dryly, writing her draft with a pencil as usual. And honestly what was that smudge next to it? It looked like a real name...and she squinted at the signature part of her recipient's letter again, to try and pick out what it was. A..Asu...um. Okay nevermind, she didn't have time for this good god.

I must say you have a rather...eccentric way of writing.

Yasuko would rather call it childish, but she shouldn't be rude to her pen-pal right now.

I must say you have a rather...eccentric way of writing. I admit I was not expecting a letter quite in this way; it certainly surprised me. 

It sounds like a good dream, to say the least. A dream is better than no dream, I would say. Though, I'm afraid I'm not much for noodles myself, and I eat rather little to be honest. So even if you do make your ramen, I may not be the your best customer. Perhaps if my brother was visiting however, you could always give him a bowl. I'm assuming you live or work in a place that makes ramen?

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That much was true. The first-year had a small stomach and couldn't really eat all that much. And she wasn't really somebody that ate food for the sake of taste; she was more the kind that 'eat to live' - and if they were practical ways to eat, the better. Though really if she were to be honest, at part of her wasn't sure if she wanted to meet her pen-pal anyway.

My dream is simple really. I would like to be a writer and to be able to write a good long fantasy series one day. I guess that's pretty much it. Nothing fancy or whatever.

I hope that one day you could become like the 'Ramen Master' that you wish to be, like your father.

Sincerely,
Muse

Honestly, she ended it in a tone that seemed rather...final. Like this was the end of their conversation. But really she had no clue how to continue this - and she had her reservations about this particular pen-pal. Sure, her first pen-pal noted started off badly...and the second had stopped abruptly anyway for there was no reply to her letter, but this one made her grimace a little. 

Well, there was nothing much for her to do now. She rewrote everything in black pen, on a white piece of paper, before sealing it into a white envelope, and dropping it with the Student Council on her way home.